Azazel (Supernatural Series)
Category:Supernatural Category:Supernatural Characters Azazel was a powerful demon and a Prince of Hell who served Lucifer. Until Sin City, Azazel's name was not revealed and he was referred to by nicknames such as The Demon, The Yellow-Eyed Demon, or Yellow Eyes. Once he killed Mary Winchester, the Winchester men hunted him for nearly two and a half decades and finally killed him in revenge in the second season finale; however, his actions continued to influence events and characters even years after his death. For example, both Sam and Dean have been haunted by visions or hallucinations of him, and his plan to unleash Lucifer and start the Apocalypsestill came to pass despite having died years before. Prior to his death, Azazel was also the tyrannical leader of the demon world. Personality Azazel took pleasure in inflicting pain (whether psychological or physical) onto others. Having a sadistic sense of humor, he liked to play with his victims' emotions by convincing them that their worst fears were true before he killed them. His signature method of murder was exceptionally vicious: he telekinetically pinned his victims to the ceiling, slit their stomachs open and burned them alive while ensuring that their husbands witnessed their death. Strangely, unlike many demons, Azazel rarely killed when it was unnecessary, as he does not kill the parents of his special children when they did not interrupt his blood rituals and even states that Mary's death was simply bad luck. However, Azazel had no regard for human life and frequently used murder to motivate the actions of his target as shown where he orders the death of Jessica and ensure Sam witnesses her death simply to get Sam hunting again or by slaughtering a group of nuns in order to contact Lucifer. He considered murdering everyone Sam loved as just "the cost of doing business." He would gloat to his victims, often monologuing about his victory, before killing them. Ironically, this led to his downfall, as it gave Dean enough time to kill him with the last bullet from the Colt. Azazel was smug and self-assured of his own power. His arrogance compelled him to endanger his own life simply for the sake of making a point. For example, in Devil's Trap he possessed John in order to steal the Colt and kill Dean when he could easily have killed both John and Dean and taken the Colt without trying to trick Dean into giving it to him, but the appeal of further tormenting the Winchesters and asserting his superiority was too strong for him to resist. He showed open amusement at the idea of anyone succeeding at killing him and would taunt the person who threatened to do so. As a major driving force and architect behind Lucifer's complex release from Hell, Azazel was highly manipulative and cunning. He took advantage of any opportunity he could, such as forcing John to sacrifice both the Colt and his own life in exchange for Dean's resurrection, with the hope that John's spirit would possibly break the first of the 66 seals by his time in Hell as a righteous or good man who must spill blood in Hell to avoid torture, the latter which was achieved by Dean. Alastair confirms John was the original target to break the seal, something Azazel likely tried to use to his advantage before John even died. Azazel often quickly modified his plans to accommodate unforeseen circumstances, such as the death of his favorite special child and survival of another and then again when the reverse unexpectedly occurred. He relished bending others to his will, to the point that he favored Sam out of all the special children because he wanted to corrupt Sam's kind-hearted nature, as well as due to the latter's skills and intelligence making him a capable weapon. Azazel was skilled at manipulation and corruption, successfully convincing Jake, Ava, and Ansem to give in to their powers and kill innocent people to further their goals. Azazel viewed his fellow demons as his family; he genuinely regarded his followers as his "children" and was enraged when Dean killed one and exorcised another. Most demons feared Azazel and considered him a cruel tyrant, even the Seven Deadly Sins feared him for his capabilities. Azazel was also deeply loyal to his father, Lucifer, whom he continued to believe in and search for even when most demons had given up. He held these "non-believers" in contempt, calling them "dickless heathens." He devoted himself to the task of freeing Lucifer, a mission he eventually died on, but was achieved regardless due to Lilith and Ruby continuing his plan. Azazel's comments in In The Beginning indicate that he possessed great knowledge of angels as he deduced that only they could send Dean back in time and remarked that Dean must have "friends in high places." Despite his arrogance, Azazel showed caution when dealing with more powerful foes such as angels and was cunning enough to cover his tracks and his ultimate goal from the angel grunts of Heaven, so thoroughly that he had all of Mary Winchester's immediate friends and family killed to ensure his plan's secrecy. According to his brother Ramiel, Azazel was a fanatic and the only one of the Princes of Hell who ultimately still cared about Lucifer's plans. Biography Early life Nothing is known about Azazel's human life, but he was eventually chosen by Lucifer to become a Prince of Hell alongside Ramiel, Asmodeus and Dagon and was transformed by Lucifer personally and became one of the first four demons created after Lilith. As a Prince of Hell, Azazel was a demonic general and was fanatically loyal to Lucifer to the point that when the other Princes gave up on Lucifer's plan and left for Earth, Azazel stayed to rule Hell and free Lucifer to start the Apocalypse. While the Ruler of Hell, Azazel had a "daughter" known as Meg and a "son" known as Tom. He was close enough to Lucifer to know of the location of Lucifer's Crypts and toured them all with Meg at some point. At some point, Azazel left Hell and went to Earth to search for the entrance to Lucifer's cage. Revelation from Lucifer After years of searching, Azazel finally located the doorway to Lucifer's prison in 1972. The fallen angel tasked him with freeing the demon Lilith from Hell, as she was needed to break the 66 Seals holding Lucifer captive, and also tasks him with finding the strongest "special child".4 By the following year, he began making demonic pacts with young individuals - specifically young women - in exchange for a wish: that he would be allowed to enter their homes exactly ten years from when they made the bargain. He promised that no harm would come to them as long as they did not interfere with his business. Preparations for The Devil's release In 1973, Azazel eventually comes across Mary Campbell, the future mother of Samand Dean Winchester. After taking possession of her father, Samuel Campbell, he kills her mother and stabs himself to kill his host. Mary's fiancé, John Winchester, is the demon's next victim. However, Azazel makes his usual offer, giving her the chance to resurrect John, she reluctantly agrees. A decade later, Mary discovers the yellow-eye demon standing over her baby Sam's crib, feeding his blood to the infant. Upon being interrupted, the demon pins her to the ceiling, slashes her stomach and causes her to burst into flames. Mary's death inspires John to dedicate his life to hunting down Azazel, at the same time training Sam and Dean to hunt supernatural creatures. Perhaps because of the enormity of his task (of selecting and grooming potential vessels for Lucifer across the world), Azazel rarely encountered the Winchesters directly; instead, he sent his children to confront them and manipulate Sam in his stead. Season 1 Months later they trace the omens caused by the demon's presence to Salvation, Iowa. Like he has done with Sam and countless others, Azazel plans to visit a six-month old and feed it his blood so the child will later develop demonic abilities. Although Sam interrupts the demon's plans and saves the family, Azazel teleports away to avoid being shot. Meanwhile, the demonic Meg Masters and her "brother" Tom kidnap John, and then set their sights on Sam and Dean. Shortly after that an angry Azazel, possessing John, chastises them for exorcising Meg and killing Tom, as he deems them his children, and begins to torture the brothers. John temporarily retakes control, giving Sam the opportunity to grab the Colt. Unable to kill his father, Sam shoots John in the leg, allowing John to regain full control and he briefly is able to hold Azazel inside of him and begs Sam to shoot him in the heart and kill them both. Sam hesitates and the demon flees from his host. Season 2 In In My Time of Dying, out of desperation John Winchester summons the Prince of Hell. When he appears, John aims the Colt at him and tells him that he will give him the Colt if he heals Dean. Azazel says that he can't heal Dean but he knows someone that can. He then tells John that there is something else he wants, John's soul, and his death. Later, in exchange for John's life and the Colt, Azazel takes over the reaperTessa and heals Dean.12 Following this, Duane Tanner communicates with Azazel through the goblet of blood, informing him that Sam Winchester is immune to the Croatoan Virus, after causing an outbreak of the Croatoan Virus which was released in Rivergrove, Oregon. Opening the Gates of Hell In an attempt to find the fittest special child, Azazel appears to Sam in a dream. In this twisted dream, the demon informs Sam that he is in a contest against all the other "special children" like him. The demon then notes that Sam is his favorite, so he shows Sam a vision of the night that the demon visited him. It is shown that the demon sort of "baptizes" the special children with his own blood, as sort of a ritual. Azazel also shows that Sam's mother, Mary, recognizes him and was only killed because she was at the "wrong place at the wrong time". After Sam was killed during Azazel's test, he approaches the winner, Jake Talley, in a dream to tell him what to do now that he is the last survivor. He threatens Jake's family, and the soldier listens. When Jake is asked by the demon to do something for him, Jake is given the Colt and tells him of its importance like the only thing that kill him. Hearing this, Jake immediately aims it at Azazel but he says Jake would rather have health and wealth than to shoot him. He promises security for his family as well, causing Jake to lower the Colt. Jake agrees to enter the Devil's Trap and use the Colt as a key to open a gate to Hell. The rush of demons from the gate destroys the Devil's Trap so that Azazel can enter. When the iron lines are broken, he appears behind Dean and is about to be shot with the Colt, but telekinetically grabs it and forcefully throws Dean onto the ground, telling him how thankful he is to Dean that he revived Sam since he liked him better than Jake. He also informs Dean that whatever Dean brought back is probably not "100% pure Sam" and taunts Dean that Sam cold-heartedly shot Jake multiple times, a feat which he could not accomplish before. He then aims the Colt at Dean, preparing to kill him, but John's ghost appears behind and grabs him from behind, pulling him out of his human host. Azazel escapes from John's grasp and returns to his body, but Dean already has the Colt and shoots him in the chest, killing him. Dean then triumphantly stands over the demon's "body", recognizing his and Sam's victory over the thing which has given their family so much death and heartache. However, with the release of hundreds of demons, the Winchester brothers accept the fact that they have more work to do and more demons to hunt down and kill, possibly worse than Azazel. Relationships Dean Meg Sam Quotes